Word: afdc
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...welfare proposal largely resurrects Ronald Reagan's controversial (and unenacted) "new federalism," putting $50 billion yearly in food stamps, nutrition programs and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) under state discretion, while the Federal Government pays state Medicaid costs. To help local charities pick up any slack, Alexander would offer a $500 tax credit for every American to give to the group of their choice. The idea is to rekindle the personal involvement that G.O.P. virtuecrats like William Bennett say made for more "effective compassion" before Uncle...
Critics of devolution argue that these safety nets were federalized in the 1960s and '70s because states had failed to provide a floor of support for the neediest. Good intentions aside, the political realities in state capitols haven't changed much since. afdc benefit levels, which are set by the states, have fallen on average 47% in real terms since 1970. There's reason to fear that these trends would worsen if states had to foot the whole bill. Under today's system of federal matching grants, for example, Mississippi thinks twice about cutting a dollar from welfare because...
...handle the job, meanwhile, may be fanciful. New York Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan, one of the Senate's welfare wise men, says that 30 years ago a proposal like Alexander's might have been possible. But no more. "Sixty-seven percent of the kids in Detroit are on AFDC in the course of a single year," he says. "The Catholic bishops will tell you they can't take care of that." Worse, Alexander's plan could balloon the deficit. His charity tax credit, much of which rewards people for gifts they'd make anyway, would cost $20 billion a year...
...federally funded--wins praise from children's advocates, its sponsors fear its benefits will be canceled out by legislation now moving through Congress. With 4 million to 10 million children scheduled to be cut from the nation's welfare rolls in the next seven years through caps on afdc and Supplemental Security Income, two major assistance programs, Digre predicts that Los Angeles will see more than 17,000 new cases of child abuse due to poverty and family stress. "Funding cuts will mean more abuse and more deaths," says Nancy Daly, who heads the county's 50-member family-preservation...
...deficit-obliteration bill passed two weeks ago would, according to the Office of Management and Budget, cut $515 billion over seven years from programs affecting the poor, from afdc to Medicaid to Food Stamps, and give the states latitude to cut more. Even if President Clinton vetoes the bill and extracts concessions from Congress, reductions will probably be significant. Republicans maintain that the old programs are fatally flawed and that the new, pared-down ones will push people to escape poverty. But few who have studied the issue doubt that the transition will be difficult. And those who work...